We have finally got the news that Man Art will be removed from the Internet within the next couple of days. Today I am filled with joy to look back and read all the comments on the work I submitted less than a year ago. I am eternally thankful for the amazing people I have met on this site and the encouragement you have given me to grow. Thanks for seeing things in me and my imagery that I couldn’t, and for helping me to recognize it. I wanted to reprint my first blog I posted and on Man Art and some of the response I got to it. Thanks to all for believing in me and giving me the courage to create even in a remote place like Montana.

New Direction
* Posted by Terry J Cyr on May 20, 2010 at 8:36am
I moved in a new direction today. After months of frustration and now not getting the job at the University I am at wits end. Frustrated. It feels like the only thing I am good at is photographing men naked. I love this and feel I have amassed a huge collection of images over the year; that no one ever sees or appreciates. My new approach today was to begin putting myself out there and see if I can connect with other artists like myself and see if I can feel any kind of sense of place in the world I love best. Montana is not the hotbed of male erotic art. It’s a constant frustration to find people who will ever work with me and allow me to photograph them. I am desperate for some new connection.

Bryan Spellman: I’m glad to have led you to Man Art. It’s a great place with some wonderful men–most of whom seem to be far, far from us. But your own work is strong and I’m so glad you’re sharing it. You deserve recognition for all you’ve accomplished. Missoula is a frustrating place. I can’t even find guys willing to model for me in their clothing–let alone nude. Hang in there my friend, and let’s do some art together.

Bruce Miller: I hope you’ll find that here. I have! I also like your work and I think you’ll be a good match. Welcome…

John Douglas: I hope this site provides some inspiration and support – and yeah the search for good models, even bad models can be frustrating at times – you start to see why many artists when they find a good model keep using that one. Best of luck, and I hope this is the beginning of a great new period in your art.

“The time has come
To go our separate ways
And it’s alright if you wanna cry
Though I know we’ll meet again someday
It’s never easy to say goodbye”
Lyrics from IT’S NEVER EASY TO SAY GOODBYE by Kenny Chesney. Country Music just seem to be the right tone for today’s topic.

I am not exactly sure of my strong connection to Caravaggio. These is a deep spirituality that exists in the images that has a strong pull on my subconscious and create a sort of cathartic effect on me emotionally. It’s not merely about the lighting, which is brilliant, but it is about humanity revealed on the canvas. Many of the images draw on religious stories, but instead of elevating them to an ethereal level he has imbued them with an earthly reality. JUDITH BEHEADING HOLOFERNES 1598, MARTERDOME OF SAINT MATTHEW 1599 The images I am drawn to are of the male nudes which have such a sensual quality to them of SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 1602, JOHN THE BAPTIST 1605. Caravaggio always painted from reality, which was revolutionary at the time. He used real subjects that he would pose and stage and paint. A painting would have taken weeks to produce and they did not have the means of modern light to maintain such consistency. The artist studios of this area where so elaborate and much of what was seen had to be illuminated by candle. I have seen images of massive candelabras with a hundred candles on them that were attached to a pulley system and become fully adjustable to create a constant source. They would also use light from a window at specific times of the day, or a series of mirrors that could reflect the light on the subject and be adjusted as the light changed through out the day. The depth and tone created by actual light is stunning and adds such a multi-dimensional quality to the subject. But I think what is most remarkable about Caravaggio’s images is that he gives such inner life to his subjects. It’s almost like he reveals their souls though expression, position and of course light and color. I am entranced to look into these visions.

I strive for this quality in my own work. Using qualities I admire in this artist I try to bring to my own work. Of course as a modern lighting designer we have so many tools at our disposal. I generally begin with a large soft box some distance from the subject, then use a series of large scrims to filter and soften it further, then I begin blocking and controlling the spill. I have a series of big black freestanding flats that I can place in front of the light to absorb it and control the fall off. It takes a lot of time and testing to place the tones where I need them. I am constantly tweaking them and trying different options because I never really quite know the effect until it’s uploaded and on my computer monitor. I prefer not do a lot of post-production adjustments to the final images; instead I strive to create it though the lighting process in the studio. I am still a purist in this part of the artistry of the photographic process. Sure I will skew the tonal range just slightly to heighten the reality. I also borrow Ansel Adams’ technique to slightly burn the outside edges slightly to bring the focus into the subject, but it is very subliminal. These are techniques I used with the image in the darkroom when I was printing by hand. It is having a strong connection to my subjects and exploring issues they are emotionally dealing with in their modern lives reveals their souls to viewer.

For today images I used Caravaggio’s painting BOY WITH A BASKET OF FRUIT 1593 (bottom) as my source of study.

I woke up excited this morning. I have Travis Elliot one of my favorite all time subjects coming into the studio to work on some new images based on the lighting styles of the Italian painter Caravaggio.

When I first met Travis he was very apprehensive about having any kind of photos done. I had begun chatting with him on the Manhunt sight and we spent months just talking. Though Manhunt is a gay cruise site it is still a place to meet interesting people and becomes a social network for a small town like Missoula. I don’t remember why Travis caught my eye, but I remember asking him to send me a couple of snapshots of himself. Travis is a forestry student and loves nature. Eventually Travis sent me this interesting picture of him standing naked at a hot springs in the wilderness. He was very reluctant to expose himself as such and insistent that I delete it from my hard drive once I viewed it, which I did. After a couple of months Travis come to visit me in the studio. We didn’t quite hit it off at first; he still seemed very dubious about the process. I am still not quite sure why he ended up in my studio when I think back. I had some lighting set up from a previous shoot and figured that I should at least work with him a bit, because he may never come back. We ended up shooting for about two hours. Travis had a tendency to live in his head and over analyze most everything. For a photographer that’s difficult to work with because the subject isn’t present and becomes stiff and mechanical. Their expression goes blank as they process through it and the image become empty and vacant. Eventually he began to relax and just settled in and he was so natural. He defiantly did not want to go nude and we worked with his shorts on. I always tell my models to take it where they are most comfortable and work within their comfort zone.

I worked the images up on the computer and began to see this amazing beauty emerge from the imagery, the lighting was fantastic, and the images had such great shape and textures to them that I was jacked for Travis to see them. A couple of days later I had Travis back to look at the images. I could see by his expression that he was a bit confused. He seemed to be having difficulty translating what we had done into these final images. I really couldn’t tell if he liked or hated them and could not read his reaction. In a sense I felt like I had failed because I didn’t capture the nature boy in the style and way he saw himself. He didn’t even want the images and my heart sank. I burned them to a disk and gave him a copy anyway and said maybe someday he would look back and appreciate seeing himself this way.

I began to see Travis on Manhunt and chatted with him some time later. He said he had shown the images around and people thought they were extraordinary. He wanted to go for another shoot, promising to get out of his head and be more relaxed. Since then Travis and I have had many shoots and he has fully exposed himself in the studio. We have always gotten the most remarkable images anywhere we take it. He has since become one of the funniest models to work with. He still wants to get out in nature and create some images in the wilderness and I have great visions for that as well.

But what really excites me about working with Travis today is that we are going to explore the lighting and images of the painter Caravaggio. I have been doing a research project on the painter for some time and have been dabbling in the style, but today I really get to explore it. Tomorrow I will talk about the process of pursuing Caravaggio, which was going to become the subject today, but some insight into my working relationship with Travis seemed more insightful and extends beyond just a mention. I now use the lower image as the avatar that becomes the symbol of my nude imagery. This was a hallmark moment in my work, I had suddenly transcended beyond Travis and myself and elevated my images to a new level of art.

Many years ago I saw a dance company from Paris do a show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It’s begun in a state of stasis to become primordial ooze and led to the evolution of man. In about ninety minutes they had summed up our existence in a flurry of movement, sound, and brilliance of color and light. With the advent this week of meeting a bunch of new models I thought I would talk about my own process of evolution toward the shoot.

Photography for me begins as an organic process. It always begins with the interview, getting to know the subject. I am really curious as to who this person is, what motivates them, what excites them and sparks their passion and see where our worlds intersect. As we talk I get clues and a glimpse of how the lighting process will work for this individual. It’s all reactive and based on impression and interaction. I have always believed that photography is collaboration. I try to explore what is at the core of this person that has brought them to this moment in their life. One of my greatest assets as a photographer is that I am curious about people and how they reveal themselves. I am honest, up front, and frank about who I am and where I have been. I listen well to what they are trying to say and by what they actually are saying about themselves. It’s almost like an instant bond is established based on mutual respect and trust. The connection has got to be genuine on both sides of the process. Once I feel we have established this I am ready to begin to work.

First and foremost I find music that makes them comfortable and allow them to find a position were they are natural and their organic selves can emerge. Style of the photo is then dictated by how they settle into the environment. I often have an idea of where I want to go with the lighting and will show them samples of the feeling I am going for. But I rarely ever follow what I had in my head; it’s merely a jumping off point. I begin with a process of adjusting and testing the lighting to see how it affects them, how it reacts to their skin, how they move, and how they present themselves. I give very little direction because I think it distracts and pushes them away from their natural self. If you let people go they will eventually reveal themselves and let you in their world. I do sometimes suggest a tilt, tick, or nod to bring out what is already naturally there. It’s the simplest process in the world. I typically don’t show people what I am shooting and working on. I have set my studio up with a big screen monitor and can tether the camera in it for instant results, but I began to realize people could see the results. They were more inclined to effect were the shoot would go and it would lose all sense of the organic nature. This process evolves, morphs, and changes through out the shoot. I react to what I see and adjust accordingly. Soon the subject and I become in sync with each other and then it all clicks; it then becomes a dance with them to get them to open up and it’s over before we know it. I believe in exhausting all possibilities in a shoot within the current parameters, movement, clothing, lighting, and style. The camera is rarely the issue of the shoot; it’s always secondary, just the instrument used to record it.

I used to study the rules and laws of lighting and ratios and set up but could never quite work to a formula. I go on gut impulse and react to what I see as it evolves. My strobe pack is able to adjust in tenths of an f-stop so I can dial it exactly where I want it. Back in the film days I always had to rely on metering everything and pre-visualizing the final image and place the tones where I wanted them to fall, but with the modern digital equipment you can instantly see the results and fine tune it as you go. It still becomes a matter of instinct and trusting the courage of your convictions because it becomes a distraction if you are constantly checking your progress. After all it’s not about me, it about the experience of the moment and recording what has come out of that moment. The end results will remain constant and will be always be present but the process is fleeting.

There now it’s taken me as much time to write about this process of evolution; as the process itself takes actually do, and the French to dance it.

I am deeply drawn to the strong contrast between light and dark. This style is defined by a term called chiaroscuro. Webster defines Chiaroscuro as the “interplay or contrast of dissimilar qualities (as of mood or character)”. This definition best exemplifies me as a person, though the term is generally not associated with psychology it is a perfect description of my personality. Wikipedia says it is an Italian word for light-dark and in art is characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. To me this is the edge where beauty dwells. It is the edge I am most drawn to, feel safe, and most at home. It seems that everyone I meet is in conflict with something in their lives. Either a psycho/social disorder they can name and treat or a secret they keep buried deep within. My process of photography is to discover that edge, to explore their insecurity and bring it to light in images that give them a different perspective. We live in a modern world where we are told the norm is physical perfection: sculpted, toned, and enhanced with product. None of us are truly this way; the reality is that we are just average people making an average go of our lives. We become so clouded in our perceptions of what we think we want to be that we refuse to see what is truly remarkable within ourselves. I face and resist these issues myself and know they have changed as I have changed, my current insecurities facing my own process of aging. This is what my photography actually becomes about. It’s the search for identity within my process. I have always been drawn to this contrast within myself and now I externally manifest it through the images I create. I see myself emerging from light into darkness. I find comfort in shadows and therefore paint with light what I feel within. Desire is a strong motivation. I was romantic at heart, sensual, and passionate on such a physical level in my youth. But as I age these qualities fade, an erosion of time. It is through my images I bring them back to existence, revisit my youth, and seek beauty. It is the experience of my life and pleasure that I bring to others, who are lost in their own insecurities, and illuminate something extraordinary about them. I use classical art as my inspiration. The painter I feel the greatest kinship to is Caravaggio. He was an Italian Baroque painter from 1593 to 1610, died at the age of 39. Many say he is the greatest influence on modern painting because he painted in a realistic style, for that era, that became an observation of human existence on both a physical and emotional level with his dramatic use of lighting. It was revolutionary at the time though not overly popular. In fact he ended up painting over many of his images due to rejection. He is considered a master of this use of the chiaroscuro style. There is a passion that lurks in the shadows and darkness of his images that captures life. I saw this in my own images long before I knew of his work. It is where the darkness meets the light and the beauty of unconventional things are allowed to emerge.